NEW YORK - Can a cherubic 10-year-old pitchman with the unlikely name of Cubby Bernstein help remake the way Tony Award nominees sell themselves to voters - and to paying theatregoers as well?
As Broadway counts down to Sunday's 2008 Tony Awards, honouring the best of the Broadway season, the Internet, primarily through YouTube, has become a way to win friends and perhaps influence voters. And Cubby, on his website www.cubbybernstein.com, has been in there, aggressively selling his "client," the nominated musical "Xanadu."
Admittedly a long shot for the top prize of best musical, "Xanadu," a good-natured spoof of the 1980 Olivia Newton-John disco movie, has scored points with the Broadway community with its mock videos. In a series of short episodes, Cubby is seen flacking "Xanadu" as real-life Tony winners - from Nathan Lane to Duncan Sheik to John Lloyd Young - extol his virtues as "a Tony campaign manager."
Already one of the episodes - featuring the show's buff star Cheyenne Jackson shirtless - has had upward of more than a half-million hits on YouTube. Another has Cubby selling cupcakes in front of the theatre (with the proceeds going to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS). A third has Patti LuPone as Madame Rose, the ultimate stage mother, wanting to hire Cubby to work his magic for her two daughters, Baby June and Louise.
"Cubby's secret is that he has a youthful production team willing to breathe new life into producing and to take advantage of the Internet, something we older producers never had or would have probably never thought of," says Martin Richards, producer of the Academy Award-winning film version of "Chicago."
"The truth is Cubby probably knows as much as anybody else does about who is going to win a Tony."
Richards was asked by one of the "Xanadu" producers, Tara Smith, to appear in the initial episode as a member of the Cubby fan club.
"It was so much fun - I think I was showing off," says Richards, adding he just improvised what he said in praise of Cubby. "I have never done anything but a Tony campaign in newspapers. This just took on a life of its own with a group of young, imaginative people. They were fearless enough and knew how to use new ways . . . of selling their product."
In truth, Cubby is as real as toilet-paper legend Mr. Whipple, Madge the manicurist (of liquid dishwashing detergent fame) or coffee spokeswoman Mrs. Olson.
But that doesn't stop Douglas Carter Beane, Tony nominee for the book of "Xanadu," from talking about the lad as if he were not young actor Adam Riegler, but a real person.
Riegler is a child stage veteran who will be on Broadway this fall, playing Young Shrek in DreamWorks' "Shrek the Musical."
"Cubby's short and there's a lot of rage . . . but he gets what he wants," Beane proclaims. "He's a fighter, and for a little man, he's got a big Rolodex. People owe him, and he's not above calling that in."
If Beane puts words into Cubby's mouth, initial credit should go to Drew Hodges, president of SpotCo, the entertainment advertising company that handles such shows as "Rent," "Avenue Q," "Chicago" and "Xanadu."
"What is it about 'Xanadu' that sets it apart? Originality . . . and its writing. Doug's writing is so funny," Hodges says. "My idea is not to campaign in some aggressive, hard way but just to remind everybody what is best about the show.
"I just threw out the idea of having a campaign manager who was a kid. It's hardly a new idea but I was thinking about the way we all talk about the Tonys, how everyone handicaps the awards, sitting in Bar Centrale (a theatre district hangout). How funny would that be to come out of a kid."
Tony campaigning has gotten more codified in recent years. Anti-swag rules are in effect. Gone are the days when producers of a musical such as "Falsettos," a show about a nice Jewish boy who happened to be married - and gay - could have containers of chicken soup delivered to voters, or see the revival of "Wonderful Town" send out View-Masters, complete with reels of 3-D scenes from the show.
Today, Tony voters (there are 795 this year) are wooed in more prosaic ways. They often are invited back to a nominated production and usually are sent a script, a souvenir program, or, if the nominee is a musical, the CD. Cute letters from people connected with a show also are popular.
As John Waters said in his missive to voters about "Cry-Baby," a best-musical nominee based on his cinematic celebration of 1950s youth flicks: "We got swivel-hipped juvenile delinquents, teenage sexpot harlots, good girls who want to be bad, prison breaks, gang fights - what more do you want? We even have a score that celebrates French kissing!"
Besides "Xanadu" and "Cry-Baby," the best-musical Tony Award nominees include "In the Heights" and "Passing Strange."
In the weeks following the May 13 Tony nomination announcement, shows began a steady parade to television. From the network morning shows to "The View" and "Live With Regis and Kelly," moments from musical productions or visits by a play's stars were regular occurrences.
"What makes a good Tony campaign is what makes any good advertising campaign," says producer Ken Davenport, no slouch himself at publicizing his own long-running off-Broadway show, "Altar Boyz."
"Broadway is a very cluttered environment and you have to look for ways to advertise your shows that make you stand out from the zillion billboards in Times Square that are trying to get you to buy tickets," Davenport says. "This one is a little more different in that the goal is not necessarily a ticket, it's a vote."
For "Xanadu," the task of standing out was made more difficult because it opened last July, nearly a year and some 30 Broadway shows ago. How do you remind people that the production is fun and received some of the best reviews of any musical this season?
"What they've successfully done is merger their content with their marketing in that (it's) very much in the style of the show," Davenport says. "But it's a campaign that wouldn't work for more serious shows such as 'A Catered Affair' or 'August: Osage County."'
The success of the initial Cubby online video - cost of the entire series was around $50,000 - got more actors involved.
"I had heard about the videos through the grapevine, watched some and secretly hoped they would ask me to be in one," says John Lloyd Young, a Tony winner for his portrayal of Frankie Valli in "Jersey Boys." They did.
"Part of the fun is watching words come out of Tony winners' mouths that were put there by Douglas Carter Beane," he adds. "It's tongue firmly planted in cheek but the electioneering is the real thing. It's politics."
And who knows where Cubby's services will be demanded next.
"There's a rumour that after the Tonys, Cubby is going to do the Oliviers (the British equivalent of the Tonys) and the Nobels for economics," Beane says with a cackle. "But he'll never do the Golden Globes - because it's about the dignity."
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On the Net: www.xanaduonbroadway.com
www.YouTube.com
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